In the American Revolution the British and later colonial troops occupied Nassau Hall (of Princeton Univ.) as barracks. Shortly after the battle of Trenton, Princeton was the scene of a battle (Jan. 3, 1777) in which Washington surprised and defeated a superior British force. Gen. Hugh Mercer was mortally wounded in the attack. A monument with sculptures by Frederick MacMonnies commemorates the battle. Morven (1701), home of Richard Stockton, was Cornwallis's headquarters and a center of social and political life during and after the Revolution. The Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall from June to Nov., 1783. In 1869 the first intercollegiate football game (between Rutgers and Princeton) took place. William Bainbridge's birthplace is the headquarters of a historical society. Palmer Square, a civic center on Nassau St., has buildings designed in colonial style by Thomas Stapleton. Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, and Albert Einstein spent the last 20 years of his life there.
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- Princeton University
Princeton University, at Princeton, N.J.; coeducational; chartered 1746, opened 1747, rechartered 1748, called the College of New Jersey until 1896. One of the nation's foremost universities, ...
- Hibben, John Grier
Hibben, John Grier, 1861–1933, American educator, b. Peoria, Ill., grad. Princeton (B.A. 1882; Ph.D., 1893) and studied at the Univ. of Berlin and Princeton Theological Seminary. He was minist...
- Compton, Karl Taylor
Compton, Karl Taylor, 1887–1954, American physicist, b. Wooster, Ohio, grad. College of Wooster (Ph.B., 1908), Princeton (Ph.D., 1912); brother of A. H. Compton. He taught at Princeton from 19...
- van Dyke, Henry
Van Dyke, Henry, 1852–1933, American clergyman, educator, and author, b. Germantown, Pa., grad. Princeton, 1873, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1874. He was pastor of the Brick Presbyteri...
- Baldwin, James Mark
Baldwin, James Mark, 1861–1934, American psychologist, b. Columbia, S.C., grad. Princeton (B.A., 1884; Ph.D., 1889). He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Toronto (1889–93), psychology at Princ...
- Finley, Robert
Finley, Robert, 1772–1817, American clergyman, a founder of the American Colonization Society, b. Princeton, N.J. In 1787 he graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), where he ...
- Russell, Henry Norris
Russell, Henry Norris, 1877–1957, American astronomer, b. Oyster Bay, N.Y., grad. Princeton, 1897. In 1902 he went to Cambridge, England, to study. He returned to Princeton in 1905, was profes...
- Stockton, Robert Field
Stockton, Robert Field, 1795–1866, American naval officer, b. Princeton, N.J. He left the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) to enter the U.S. Navy at 16 and served in the War of 1812 and i...
- Kakutani, Shizuo
Kakutani, Shizuo, 1911–2004, Japanese mathematician, b. Osaka, Japan, grad. Tohoko Univ, Ph.D. Princeton, 1941. Kakutani repatriated to Japan during World War II, but returned to Princeton in ...
- Nozick, Robert
Nozick, Robert, 1938–2002, American political philosopher, b. Brooklyn, N.Y.; grad. Columbia Univ. (B.A., 1959), Princeton Univ. (M.A., 1961; Ph.D., 1963). After teaching at Princeton and Rock...
